Reclaiming England. (Nano Novel 2016)

Chapter Twenty: Captives

       

Arthur woke in a dungeon. He blinked his eyes open, trying to remember what had happened. The last thing he knew was the boat. He had been travelling with some other knights, Sirs Uriens and Accolon when they had become lost, and come across a boat and were invited inside.

  He was most certainly not aboard a boat now. As he had noted before, the young kind was in some kind of dungeon, a group of other men standing and sitting around.

He struggled to a sitting position, and a few of the other men moved towards him.

"Greetings," one said, sighing sadly. "You have been captured as well?"

"It seems that way," Arthur said, still trying to figure out what had happened. Magic – perhaps he had been under an enchantment. Morgan le Fay? It couldn't be anyone else, really.

"We have been here for seven years," one of the other prisoners said, an old man. "And we may be for seven more."

Arthur felt a brief moment of panic well up inside him – seven years? He couldn't be trapped down here that long, he was king. He needed to return to Camelot.

"Who has trapped you?" he asked.

"The evil Sir Damas," the first knight said. "He offers us to fight his good brother, but we refuse and so we are trapped."

Arthur sighed, pushing himself to his feet. He surveyed the room, trying to find a way to escape. But part of him knew that if these men had been here for seven years, he wasn't going to get out easily.

"Why do you not fight?" Arthur asked.

"We do not wish to be killed," one said.

"I do not want to fight Sir Ontzlake," another answered. "He is a good knight."

Arthur drew breath to speak, but as he did the door was pushed open. A young maiden stood there, her raven hair flowing down her back.

Arthur turned to greet her, and his breath caught in his throat. She was one of his half sister's servants, so it was she who was behind this.

"What do yo wish?" he demanded, moving towards her.

"To offer you freedom," she said. "You will fight a knight in return for the freedom of your fellow knights – and your freedom should you win."

Arthur considered a long while. If Morgan le Fay was behind this, it wouldn't be a fair fight – she would trick and cheat to kill him. And yet he didn't want these knights around him to remain trapped in this cell for longer than they had to be.

"Very well," he said at last. "But return me my sword and scabbard, and set these men free."

The girl bowed slightly, smiling.

"It shall be as you say," she said, and left the room.

The room they were lead to was rather nice, to Maria's surprise. It was small, but nicely furnished, a bookshelf along one wall and a single bed along the other.

They were, however, still prisoners. There were no windows, and the door had no handles on the inside.

Maria began pacing, stalking up and down the sides of the room. Callum, his wound obvious paining him, collapsed to the floor, clutching his hand to the bullet hole and winching. Arthur sat beside him, while Lance perched himself on the bed.

"Well, no what?" Maria asked, turning and facing them from the bookshelf. Callum shook his head, staring at the floor.

"I don't know," he whispered.